large desk decked out with lots of computer paraphernalia occupied the rest.
A pretty brunette woman seated behind the desk looked up at their entrance.
A slew of guards filed past Cliff and fanned out around the edges of the room.
But the woman paid them little heed as her hazel eyes met his.
Cliff waited for her to tense up, pale, or make some other involuntary display of nerves.
Instead she smiled.
Did she not know he was a vampire? Because her heartbeat didn’t even increase.
Rising, she rounded the desk and approached him. “Hi, Cliff. I’m Kate.” She offered him her hand.
Surprised, he took it and gave it a firm shake. “Nice to meet you.”
Her smile broadened into a grin. “I’m so glad you’re back and that I have this chance to thank you.”
He glanced at Todd, who just watched them with a smile. “Thank me?”
Nodding, she patted their clasped hands. “We’ve actually met before. I don’t blame you for not recognizing me. I looked like I’d been rolling in dirt and ash and didn’t even recognize myself when I looked in the mirror.” She loosed a self-deprecating laugh that drew a smile from him. “I’m one of the employees you saved when the mercenaries attacked.”
He stared at her in surprise. “Oh.” He had no memory of that. At all.
“Thank you again.” After one last pat, she released his hand.
“You’re welcome.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Oh screw it. I hope you don’t mind this.” Leaning in, she stunned the hell out of him by giving him a big hug. “I never would’ve survived if you hadn’t gotten me down to that escape tunnel. I was injured and barely made it to sublevel two. And mercenaries were right behind me.”
Cliff darted the guards a wary glance and spread his arms slightly, hands open, afraid to make even the slightest move that might inspire them to tranq him.
Though the guards he didn’t know narrowed their eyes and tensed, those who had accompanied him from sublevel 5 remained relaxed. Some even appeared amused when he just stood there, afraid to respond.
Kate backed away and scowled at the guards. “Oh, would you guys just relax already? We’re trying to have a freaking moment.”
Todd snorted when he tried and failed to hold back a laugh.
Cliff didn’t expect the men to react. But damned if they didn’t immediately snap to attention, release their weapons, and shift their gazes to stare straight ahead.
“Better,” she said with a smile, then gave Cliff another hug.
Amusement sifted through him, dispersing some of his anxiety. Smiling, he wrapped his arms around her and returned her hug.
Out of all the things becoming a vampire had deprived him of, Cliff thought he missed human touch the most. He had gone a long damn time without it. So long that he had nearly wept the first time Melanie had hugged him.
Though taller than Melanie, Kate was still a little on the short side and smelled like cucumbers.
It was nice.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said.
She backed away with a smile. “I’m glad you are, too.”
Movement drew Cliff’s attention to a doorway on the other side of the office.
Chris Reordon stood there, watching them.
Oh crap. First Whetsman tattles and says who-knows-what to lead Reordon to summon Cliff to his office, then Reordon finds Cliff hugging his assistant?
This wasn’t going to go well, was it?
Chris strolled toward them, his expression inscrutable. He stared at Cliff a moment, then nodded not at the doorway that led to his office but to the one that led out of Kate’s. “Walk with me.”
Cliff couldn’t decide if that was a request or an order but opted to follow him. Not that he actually had a choice.
Reordon didn’t speak as he led Cliff back to the elevators.
Todd and the other guards followed at a not very discreet distance.
The guards from sublevel 5 squeezed onto the elevator with them. The rest remained topside.
The short ride only took them down one floor to sublevel 1. According to Melanie, this network headquarters building was an exact replica of the old one. Cliff had reportedly been all over sublevel 1 the morning of the mercenary blitz, but—again—he had no memory of it, so he was seeing it with new eyes.
He glanced around curiously as Reordon led him down a wide hallway. Aside from those that accompanied them, no guards were in sight. No doctors or researchers wearing white physician coats or scrubs were either. Instead, men and women in casual business attire slowed their steps and stared as Cliff’s group approached, then